Langdell hits back: â??EA is losing its legal fightâ??

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Publisher supposedly failed to win second trademark bid for Mirrorâ??s Edge, while the â??Souledgeâ?? mark is apparently revoked

New court documents in circulation suggest that EA is now winning the legal war against Edge Games, with trademark protection on the term ‘edge’ said to be close to cancellation.

Not so, according to the man at the centre of the row, Tim Langdell.

Edge Games boss Langdell tells Develop that the suggestions that EA is closing in on the controversial ‘edge’ trademark are untrue.

“On the contrary,” he says, “we have won every round against EA so far, just as we predicted we would.”

Langdell said it is “probably obvious” that EA DICE is the studio that sparked off the rumour – an allegation which is partially true as a current employee at the Battlefield studio posted the legal documents on his Twitter feed. The documents in question are public record.

Electronic Arts crossed paths with Langdell following the release of the FPS Mirror’s Edge, a game with a title Langdell deemed unacceptable.

Langdell, as he does with all games which use the common noun ‘edge’, pursued legal action against the game’s developer DICE.

He now alleges that EA has recently lost its second attempt to register the trademark Mirror's Edge.

Langdell adds that, in September 2009, EA had “voluntarily abandoned” its trademark application, before seeking to register Mirror’s Edge “with a visual device”, of which the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) again rejected.

Langdell’s claims on the matter remain unverified, and the protracted and complex legal matter continues. Develop is in discussion with EA for comment.

The Edge Games boss added, “we are winning as we predicted we would.”

He said he filed a motion to dismiss EA’s legal pursuit and, while that was denied, the USPTO apparently rejected EA’s bid to brand the Edge trademark as fraudulent.

Langdell added that this leaves with few legal options, all of which he is confident Edge Games has the upper-hand on. He alleged that it is likely that EA “will shortly lose the fight in the US entirely”, adding that he is confident of winning the corresponding legal battle in the UK.

He adds, “In the meantime we got ‘Souledge’ revoked from the UK register, which stood as the only decision that had ever gone against us. We thus now have a 100 per cent record of winning all disputes involving the Edge mark in the US and UK and we will win against EA/EA DICE, too.”